SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- For those who attended the recent St. Patrick's Day parade in Sioux Falls, a slight difference in security may have been noticeable, from more blocked streets, to some city trucks parked to block certain intersections. Cody Schulz, the Sioux Falls Police Department Spe cial Events Sergeant, spoke to KELOLAND News about the changes. "Unfortunately, those changes are due to recent events around the nation and also around the world," said Schulz, alluding to events such as the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans, which saw a man drive a truck into a crowd, killing 15. No arrests yet in homicide near Bishop Dudley "That kind of thing got us looking at our procedures," said Schulz, who has only been in his position for two years. "We realized it's been a significant amount of time since we've kind of reviewed our procedures when it comes to special events." The 2025 Saint Patrick's Day parade was the first to be held with new procedures in place, which included pushing vehicle access back a full block in either direction from Phillips Ave. "We decided to extend street closures to include the cross streets at Phillips," Schulz said. "That would include no parking in those areas, so any type of meter would have to be marked with a sign." Schulz also noted vehicles left within the exclusion area would be towed. One point of emphasis was main intersections. "The majority of people who do gather are in the intersections," Schulz said, using 11th and Phillips as an example. "It seems like that's where the greatest number of people gather -- because it's kind of an open area -- that's also where the highest risk is, because there's also an open road behind them and to the other direction." This is one area where the police department again stepped up measures. Schulz said that at the places where Phillips intersects with 10th and 11th streets, two major routes through downtown, SFPD partnered with the street department. "We had them bring in some of their larger dump trucks -- and we had them positioned on 10th and 11th streets just as some additional barriers," said Schulz. While these trucks blocked some of the highest risk intersections, squad cars and the traditional wooden barriers covered most of the rest. While the trucks are something Schulz wants to continue to utilize, he indicated that security in other areas should be beefed up in the future. "The city council did approve for us, as a city, to purchase vehicle barriers," said Schulz, describing the barriers as a metal apparatus which, if driven over, would cause a vehicle to become high-centered and stuck. "It's a safety and security apparatus that just deters any vehicle from entering into a specific area." The council approved the purchase of these barriers in February. The barriers have not yet been purchased, but Schulz says he hopes to have personnel trained and to be able to deploy them as soon as 2026. Schulz said everything went well on Saturday, and noted that Sioux Falls has never had an incident approaching the severity of what occurred in New Orleans. "We have had somewhat unfortunate events where someone who was intoxicated starts driving toward a parade road -- but they were able to get stopped and were arrested," he said. Despite the lack of disasters in the past, Schulz doesn't take events lightly. "I'll be honest. Before a big event, I do not sleep well at night because you have a lot of different things running through your head," he said. "Being able to do these extra things and have these extra things in place, hopefully it does help me get a few more Zs." ...read more read less